Upcoming

Upcoming: THE BIRD KING by G. Willow Wilson (Grove)

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WilsonGW-BirdKingUSG. Willow Wilson is the author of the critically-acclaimed, award-winning Alif the Unseen (an NPR and Washington Post Best Book of the Year) and the critically-acclaimed Ms. Marvel comic series. I’ve long been a fan of her work, and her next novel has really caught my attention. The Bird King is described as “a fantastical journey set at the height of the Spanish Inquisition” and “a jubilant story of love versus power, religion versus faith, and freedom versus safety”, here’s the official synopsis:

Set in 1491 during the reign of the last sultanate in the Iberian peninsula, The Bird King is the story of Fatima, the only remaining Circassian concubine to the sultan, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker. Hassan has a secret — he can make maps of places he’s never seen and bend the shape of reality with his pen and paper. His magical gift has proven useful to the sultan’s armies in wartime and entertained a bored Fatima who has never stepped foot outside the palace walls.

When a party representing the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrives to negotiate the terms of the sultan’s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, little realizing that her new friend Luz represents the Inquisition, and will see Hassan’s gift as sorcery, and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With everything on the line, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan, and taste the freedom she has never known?

Fatima and Hassan traverse Iberia to the port, helped along the way by a jinn who has taken a liking to them — Vikram the Vampire, who readers may remember from Alif the Unseen. Pursued all the while by Luz, who somehow always seems to know where they will end up, they narrowly escape from her generals by commandeering a ship, and accidentally also the snoozing Breton monk belowdecks. Though they are unsure whether to trust him, because he is a member of the very same faith they are running from, they nevertheless set about learning from him how to crew a ship. And as it becomes clearer both that there is no place on the mainland that they will be safe, and that the three of them are destined to stay together, they set out to do something they never thought possible — to find the mysterious, possibly mythic island of The Bird King, whose shifting boundaries will hopefully keep them safe.

An epic adventure to find safety in a mythical realm, The Bird King challenges us to consider what true love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate.

The Bird King is due to be published by Grove on March 12th, 2019.

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Upcoming: AMERICAN POP by Snowden Wright (William Morrow)

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WrightS-AmericanPopUSI already have a review copy of Snowden Wright‘s upcoming American Pop — the fictionalized story of the Forsters, the founders of America’s first major soft-drink company. I’ll probably be reading it very soon, though I’ll be holding off on posting a review until closer to its release date (it’s now due to hit shelves until next year…) Now that there’s a cover, though, I decided to feature it on CR. Here’s the synopsis, which caught my attention:

The story of a family.

The story of an empire.

The story of a nation.

Moving from Mississippi to Paris to New York and back again, an epic saga of family, ambition, passion, and tragedy that brings to life one unforgettable Southern dynasty — the Forsters, founders of the world’s first major soft-drink company — against the backdrop of more than a century of American cultural history.

The child of immigrants, Houghton Forster has always wanted more — from his time as a young boy in Mississippi, working twelve-hour days at his father’s drugstore; to the moment he first laid eyes on his future wife, Annabelle Teague, a true Southern belle of aristocratic lineage; to his invention of the delicious fizzy drink that would transform him from tiller boy into the founder of an empire, the Panola Cola Company, and entice a youthful, enterprising nation entering a hopeful new age.

Now the heads of a preeminent American family spoken about in the same breath as the Hearsts and the Rockefellers, Houghton and Annabelle raise their four children with the expectation they’ll one day become world leaders. The burden of greatness falls early on eldest son Montgomery, a handsome and successful politician who has never recovered from the horrors and heartbreak of the Great War. His younger siblings Ramsey and Lance, known as the “infernal twins,” are rivals not only in wit and beauty, but in their utter carelessness with the lives and hearts of others. Their brother Harold, as gentle and caring as the twins can be cruel, is slowed by a mental disability — and later generations seem equally plagued by misfortune, forcing Houghton to seriously consider: who should control the company after he’s gone?

An irresistible tour de force of original storytelling, American Pop blends fact and fiction, the mundane and the mythical, and utilizes techniques of historical reportage to capture how, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s words, “families are always rising and falling in America,” and to explore the many ways in which nostalgia can manipulate cultural memory — and the stories we choose to tell about ourselves.

American Pop is due to be published by William Morrow on February 5th, 2019. (As far as I can tell, it will be available on import in the UK, but not sure if it’s getting a full release.) The novel has already been getting some great advance praise. For example, this blurb from Jonathan Dee:

“The House of Forster is built on bubbles; watching each wealth-addled generation try not to blow the family fortune and/or disgrace its name provides not only excellent Gothic fun but a panoramic tour of the American Century — and Snowden Wright’s voice has all the Southern charm and lightly worn wisdom you’d expect from a writer with a name like Snowden Wright.”

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Upcoming: Golden Age Masterworks Editions (Gollancz)

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Just spotted these today, while looking for something else on the Orion Books website: four new Golden Age Masterworks editions. Gollancz has been publishing Masterworks editions for some time, now, and this looks like an interesting (not to mention attractive) new series of classics. I’m not sure if there are going to be more novels in the collection, but so far I’ve found these four, all of which are due to be published on January 10th, 2019: E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith’s Galactic Patrol (1937), Henry Kuttner’s Fury (1947), Arthur C. Clarke’s The Sands of Mars (1951), and C.L. Moore’s Doomsday Morning (1957).

As a testament to how useful this type of publishing programme is, I’d not heard of any of these novels, so I’m glad they’re being brought back into circulation. (Also, I really like the covers…)

SmithEED-GalacticPatrolUKGAMGALACTIC PATROL by E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith

The space-pirates of Boskone raided at will, menacing the whole structure of interstellar civilization. Master-minded by a super-scientist, their conquering fleets outgunned even the mighty space cruisers of the Galactic Patrol.

When Lensman Kim Kinnison of the Patrol discovered the secret Boskonian base, it was invulnerable to outside attack. But where a battle-fleet would meet insuperable resistance, a single infiltrator might penetrate the Boskonian defenses — if he had the guts to take on million-to-one odds. Kinnison had guts enough to take on the odds — even with the future of the civilized Universe riding on his shoulders…

Galactic Patrol is the third self-contained novel in E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith’s epic Lensman series, one of the all-time classics of adventurous, galaxy-spanning science fiction.

A quick search on Amazon suggests that Smith’s Grey Lensman, Second-Stage Lensman and Children of the Lens are also due to be issued as part of this collection.

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KuttnerH-FuryUKGAMFURY by Henry Kuttner

The Earth is long dead, blasted apart, and the human survivors who settled on Venus live in huge citadels beneath the Venusian seas in an atrophying, class-ridden society ruled by the Immortals — genetic mutations who live a thousand years or more. Sam Reed was born an immortal, born to rule those with a normal life-span, but his deranged father had him mutilated as a baby so that he wouldn’t know of his heritage. And Sam grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and the law, thinking of the Immortals as his enemies. Then he reached the age of eighty, understood what had happened to him and went looking for revenge — and changed his decaying world forever.

Fury is a powerful, dark and compelling novel that explores the sensual, bloody and urgent nature of humankind’s striving.

I think this might be the only one of Kuttner’s books to be included in this new masterworks collection (this may change).

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ClarkeAC-SandsOfMarsUKGAMTHE SANDS OF MARS by Arthur C. Clarke

It is the twenty-first century. On Mars a dedicated group of pioneers — among them some of Earth’s finest brains — struggle to change the face of the planet…

Science fiction writer Martin Gibson finally gets a chance to visit the research colony on the Red Planet. It’s a dream come true — until he discovers the difficulties and perils of survival on another world… and the very real terror it holds.

This is Clarke’s first published novel. Not sure if any of Clarke’s other novels are going to be released as part of this collection (I couldn’t find any information on Amazon or Orion’s website, anyway).

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MooreCL-DoomsdayMorningUKGAMDOOMSDAY MORNING by C.L. Moore

Comus, the communications network/police force, has spread its web of power all across an America paralyzed by the after-effects of limited nuclear war. But in California, resistance is building against the dictatorship of Comus and Andrew Raleigh, president for life. For now Raleigh is dying and the powers of Comus are fading. It’s the perfect time for the Californian revolutionaries to activate the secret weapon that alone can destroy America’s totalitarian system and re-establish democracy.

Yet Comus too has powers at its disposal, chief among them Howard Rohan. A washed-up actor until Comus offers him a second chance, Rohan will head a troupe of players touring in the heart of rebel territory.

Howard Rohan, double agent, caught between the orders of Comus and rebels demands. Which side will he choose? Who will he play false — himself, or the entire country?

According to Amazon UK, it looks like Moore’s Judgement Night, North West of Earth, and Jirel of Joiry are also going to be re-issued as part of this collection.

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Anyone read any of these classics? Any other titles you’d like to see released as part of this collection?

Upcoming: THE WALL by John Lanchester (W.W. Norton/Faber)

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LanchesterJ-TheWallUSWhen I read the synopsis for John Lanchester‘s next novel, The Wall, my mind immediately went to the doomsday predictions for the UK post-Brexit. I’m actually surprised how few novels I’ve read, or read/heard about have made me think of Brexit and the referendum’s fall-out. The synopsis suggests a country that is living with the mentality of those who voted Leave (despite all of our warnings that it would be a disaster). It will be really interesting to see how this novel shapes up. Check out the synopsis:

Kavanagh begins his life patrolling the Wall. If he’s lucky, if nothing goes wrong, he only has two years of this, 729 more nights.

The best thing that can happen is that he survives and gets off the Wall and never has to spend another day of his life anywhere near it. He longs for this to be over; longs to be somewhere else.

He will soon find out what Defenders do and who the Others are. Along with the rest of his squad, he will endure cold and fear day after day, night after night. But somewhere, in the dark cave of his mind, he thinks: wouldn’t it be interesting if something did happen, if they came, if you had to fight for your life?

John Lanchester’s thrilling, hypnotic new novel is about why the young are right to hate the old. It’s about a broken world you will recognise as your own — and about what might be found when all is lost.

Lanchester is also the critically-acclaimed author of Capital and Fragrant Harbour (the latter of which I have and will hopefully be reading soon). Due to be published by W.W. Norton in North America (March 5th) and Faber in the UK (January 17th), I’m really looking forward to reading The Wall.

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Upcoming: WASHINGTON BLACK by Esi Edugyan (Harper Collins / Knopf / Serpent’s Tail)

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EdugyanE-WashingtonBlack

I first learned of Esi Edugyan‘s Washington Black after I saw it announced that it was on the Man Booker Prize longlist — despite not yet being available. (I still find it a little strange when as-yet-unreleased novels are included on prize lists.) Nevertheless, I think it sounds really interesting:

When two English brothers take the helm of a Barbados sugar plantation, Washington Black — an eleven year-old field slave — finds himself selected as personal servant to one of these men. The eccentric Christopher ‘Titch’ Wilde is a naturalist, explorer, scientist, inventor and abolitionist, whose single-minded pursuit of the perfect aerial machine mystifies all around him.

Titch’s idealistic plans are soon shattered and Washington finds himself in mortal danger. They escape the island together, but then then Titch disappears and Washington must make his way alone, following the promise of freedom further than he ever dreamed possible.

From the blistering cane fields of Barbados to the icy wastes of the Canadian Arctic, from the mud-drowned streets of London to the eerie deserts of Morocco, Washington Black teems with all the strangeness and mystery of life. Inspired by a true story, Washington Black is the extraordinary tale of a world destroyed and made whole again.

I can’t wait to read this novel. Washington Black to due to be published in Canada by Harper Collins (September 4th); in the US by Knopf (September 18th); and in the UK Serpent’s Tail (August 2nd).

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Newt Scamander confronts THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD…

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A new trailer for the next movie in the Fantastic Beasts series was released during San Diego Comic Con. It is a tantalizing look at what the next movie has to offer. Check it out:

The movie stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, Jude Law as Dumbledore, and many others. Some returning faces from Fantastic Beasts appear in the trailer, which is also nice. The Crimes of Grindelwald is due to arrive in theatres in November.

New AQUAMAN and SHAZAM! trailers dropped at SDCC…

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Two new trailers for upcoming DC Comics movies dropped at SDCC, and both have certainly grabbed my attention, not to mention increased my anticipation. First up, Aquaman, Jason Momoa’s first solo outing as the titular hero:

Aquaman stars Momoa, Amber Heard (Mera), Dolph Lundgren (), Patrick Wilson (Orm), Willem Dafoe, Djimon Hounsou and more. The movie was directed by James Wan, and the screenplay had input from a number of people, including Wan, Geoff Johns (who wrote the Aquaman comic for a while, and is responsible for guiding Hollywood overall around the DC universe and its characters).

And second, Shazam!, which isn’t a comic I’m familiar with, but nevertheless looks like it could be a lot of fun:

It’s been a while since I last saw Zachary Levi in anything, but I am a huge fan of Chuck, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy his part in this, too. The movie also stars Mark Strong (he of the best voice in film, and playing a bad guy again), and some younger actors I’ve never heard of before. The movie is directed by David F. Sandberg, and was written by Henry Gayden. Interestingly, Djimon Hounsou is in this one, too.

Much has been made of the gloomy Zack Snyder DC Comic movieverse, some of which I have liked and some of which I didn’t. While I am not against gloomy, gritty superhero movies (The Dark Knight, for example), and generally my issues with the DC movies have not been related to the atmosphere/texture of the movies, I am glad we’re getting some lighter fare in the coming months/years.

I’m really looking forward to both of these movies.

Upcoming: THRAWN — ALLIANCES by Timothy Zahn (Century)

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ZahnT-SW-Thrawn2-AlliancesTimothy Zahn‘s Thrawn novels are considered many to be among the best (if not the best) of the original Expanded Universe (now “Legacy”) Star Wars novels. The author has brought this fan-favourite character into the new Star Wars canon in Thrawn, and now Thrawn: Alliances. Here’s the synopsis:

Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader team up against a threat to the Empire…

“I have sensed a disturbance in the Force.”

Ominous words under any circumstances, but all the more so when uttered by Emperor Palpatine. On Batuu, at the edges of the Unknown Regions, a threat to the Empire is taking root — its existence little more than a glimmer, its consequences as yet unknowable. But it is troubling enough to the Imperial leader to warrant investigation by his most powerful agents: ruthless enforcer Lord Darth Vader and brilliant strategist Grand Admiral Thrawn. Fierce rivals for the emperor’s favor, and outspoken adversaries on Imperial affairs — including the Death Star project — the formidable pair seem unlikely partners for such a crucial mission. But the Emperor knows it’s not the first time Vader and Thrawn have joined forces. And there’s more behind his royal command than either man suspects.

In what seems like a lifetime ago, General Anakin Skywalker of the Galactic Republic, and Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo, officer of the Chiss Ascendancy, crossed paths for the first time. One on a desperate personal quest, the other with motives unknown . . . and undisclosed. But facing a gauntlet of dangers on a far-flung world, they forged an uneasy alliance — neither remotely aware of what their futures held in store.

Now, thrust together once more, they find themselves bound again for the planet where they once fought side by side. There they will be doubly challenged — by a test of their allegiance to the Empire… and an enemy that threatens even their combined might.

Thrawn: Alliances is due to be published next week in the UK by Century and in North America by Del Rey.

The publisher is currently running a pre-order promotion, too! If you pre-order the novel, and fill out this form, then they will send you a replica-pin of Thrawn’s rank insignia (below). Which is rather nifty.

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Upcoming: THE MANSION by Ezekiel Boone (Atria/Emily Bestler)

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BooneE-MansionUSThis December, Atria/Emily Bestler Books is due to published Ezekiel Boone‘s latest novel, The Mansion. I’ve only read the first novel in Boone’s Hatching trilogy (which was very good — so I’m not sure why I haven’t moved quicker on reading the other two, which I also have).

A family moves into a home equipped with the world’s most intelligent, cutting-edge, and intuitive computer ever — but a buried secret leads to terrifying and catastrophic consequences…

After two years of living on cheap beer and little else in a bitterly cold tiny cabin outside an abandoned, crumbling mansion, young programmers Shawn Eagle and Billy Stafford have created something that could make them rich: a revolutionary computer they name Eagle Logic.

But the hard work and escalating tension have not been kind to their once solid friendship — Shawn’s girlfriend Emily has left him for Billy, and a third partner has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. While Billy walks away with Emily, Shawn takes Eagle Logic, which he uses to build a multi-billion-dollar company that eventually outshines Apple, Google, and Microsoft combined.

Years later, Billy is a failure, beset by poverty and addiction, and Shawn is the most famous man in the world. Unable to let the past be forgotten, Shawn decides to resurrect his and Billy’s biggest failure: a next-generation computer program named Nellie that can control a house’s every function. He decides to set it up in the abandoned mansion they worked near all those years ago. But something about Nellie isn’t right — and the reconstruction of the mansion is plagued by accidental deaths. Shawn is forced to bring Billy back, despite their longstanding mutual hatred, to discover and destroy the evil that lurks in the source code.

This sounds like it has the potential to be deliciously techno-creepy. I’m really looking forward to reading it. In the meantime, I’ll have to get caught up on the second and third books in the Hatching trilogy…

The Mansion is due to be published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books on December 4th in the US. I could only find a listing for an imported edition for the UK, but a proper UK edition may still be in the works.

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Upcoming: MAKE ME A CITY by Jonathan Carr (Henry Holt)

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CarrJ-MakeMeACityUSChicago is one of my favourite American cities. I was there earlier this month (damn, it was hot), and when I spotted Jonathan Carr‘s Make Me A City on Edelweiss, I put it on my wishlist. A debut novel that “embroiders fact with fiction to tell the story of Chicago’s 19th century”, I think it looks really interesting:

The tale begins with a game of chess — and on the outcome of that game hinges the destiny of a great city. From appalling injustice springs forth the story of Chicago, and the men and women whose resilience, avarice, and altruism combine to generate a moment of unprecedented civic energy.

A variety of irresistible voices deliver the many strands of this novel: those of Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, the long-unheralded founder of Chicago; John Stephen Wright, bombastic speculator and booster; and Antje Van Voorhis, the first woman to report for the Chicago Tribune. The stories of loggers, miners, engineers, and educators teem around them and each claim the narrative in turns, sharing their grief as well as their delight.

As the characters, and their ancestors, meet and part, as their possessions pass from hand to hand, the reader realizes that Jonathan Carr commands a grand picture, one that encompasses the heartaches of everyday lives as well as the overarching ideals of what a city and a society can and should be. Make Me a City introduces us to a novelist whose talent and ambition are already fully formed.

Make Me a City is due to be published by Henry Holt, on March 19th, 2019 (it will be available in the UK, too).

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